“We’re all just old women, when it comes to talking. I just thank God my horses can’t talk…”
He loved this more relaxed, easy Jack.
“Imagine what they’d say? I bet you tell them all your secrets.” Hudson turned on the hot water and started filling the sink to wash dishes.
“Every one. They are the best at keeping my thoughts.”
He tossed Jack a dishrag and got to it. “You should tell me. I’m very good at keeping secrets.”
Jack snatched the cloth out of the air. “Are you? Do you have a lot of them? Secrets, I mean.”
“Mine, or other peoples?” He winked at Jack. “I have a few. How about you?”
“Well, I’m a gay cowboy that works a bull riding circuit. I got secrets out the wazoo.” Jack chuckled softly and shook his head. “Also, I probably have way more about other folks than I do about me.”
“I have a secret about you,” he said, teasing. He didn’t look at Jack; he just kept washing dishes and handing them over.
“Do you? You gonna tell me?”
“Mhm. You smile when you’re sleeping. Like you’re dreaming happy things. It’s adorable.”
“Listen to you. That’s way better than snoring like a Latvian chainsaw drill team, I guess, huh?” Jack dried a glass and put it away. “When did you have your first serious guy?”
He glanced at Jack and answered the first question as if he hadn’t heard the second. “You actually don’t snore at all, you know that? It seems like most guys do, but I’ve never heard you do it.” He handed Jack another dish.
If Jack noticed, he didn’t say. “I take a lot of allergy meds. Keeps my lungs clear.”
“If you say so. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.” He snagged the towel back from Jack and dried his hands. “Everything you do works for me.”
“Good.” That was straight up, simple, sure. Just ‘good’.
“It is good.” Hudson looked at Jack for a moment, then asked, “What do you mean when you say a serious guy?”
“Like someone you were into, that was into you. You know, serious.”
“Oh, okay. Got it. Well… I’ve been into someone, it’s the into-me part I’ve had some trouble with. So, it’s hard to say. Serious hasn’t really been a thing for me.” The whole thing with Jack had always been kind of a gray area, really.
“Huh. I was eighteen.”
“Yeah? Tell me about this man that baby Jack was into.” That was a story worth hearing.
“He was a bronc rider. Turned me inside out.” Jack chuckled, winked at him. “That’s basically the story.”
“That’s it? How long did it last? Was he older and wiser? Were you heartbroken when he left you, or did you break it off? Details!” Hudson leaned against the back of his couch, which floated in the middle of the room and helped break up the open floor plan.
“I—” Jack pursed his lips. “He wasn’t interested in a needy bastard. It was a hard crash, and I was a bit of a laughingstock for a bit. I fixed it.”
“Oh, Jack…” He stared at the cowboy for a second, imagining some asshole telling a young, gay cowboy that he was needy. “I’m so sorry. What a dick.” And how did youfixsomething like that? Beat the crap out of the guy? Cut his balls off? “That sucks. I can’t imagine what you could possibly fix about that.”
“Me. That’s the only thing on earth you can fix, darlin’.”
He frowned. “You do not need fixing, my fine, fucking hot, French toast making cowboy.”
Jack smiled at him, cupped his jaw, and kissed him, long and slow. “Thank you, darlin’. You rock my world.”
“I hope so. I want to.”You’re the only man I’ve been serious about since the day I met you.He’d say it. He’d tell Jack soon. Maybe at Mackey’s. Maybe.
“You do. Now, did you say we were going to explore some? Because I sure want to see what you have to show me.”